Forrest family papers, 1847-1898.

Abstract: Papers of French Forrest (1796-1866), of Maryland, U.S. naval officer during the Mexican War and later an officer in the Confederate Navy; and of his son, Douglas F. Forrest (1837-1902), Confederate naval officer, lawyer in Baltimore, and Episcopal minister. There are a few loose papers in the collection. The bulk of the material is composed of account books from Clermont, the home of French Forrest at Alexandria, Va., and his order and letter books at Richmond and at the Confederate navy yard at Norfolk, Va. Also included are Douglas F. Forrest’s diaries while serving in the Confederate Navy and in the West Indies, England, and France, 1863-1865, as an agent for the Confederate governsent, and a short diary and memoir, June 1865, of his start as an emigrant, via Texas, to Mexico. There are also four volumes of a diary he kept on a trip to Europe and the Holy Land, 1871, shortly after leaving the Virginia Theological Seminary, where he received his training for the Episcopal ministry.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: The collection mentions freed slaves in Texas (Microfilm only: See folder M-2206/2, Part 5). In Folder 1, there are typed copies of diary entries from June 1865. Microfilm available.